The attempt to apply socialist ideas without consideration of the movement's historic practice—and the way that practice can best be applied in contemporary contexts—is among the worst, and most frequently committed, errors socialists can fall into.
Good ideas don’t just grow legs and start wandering around in the world, changing things for the better. History, for good and for ill, is made by organised political forces. Helping to build such a movement that can fight for socialism is one important reason for running electoral campaigns.
The global picture is clear: the traditional reformist parties are utterly bankrupt, unpopular and incapable of standing up to the threat posed by the far right.
Women today have achieved formal equality in most spheres of life. They have much greater choice about what to do with their lives. But they are still a long way from being equal to men, and even further from liberation.
